Decide on the primary audience and then script the report at the adequate technical level. The secondary audience can be supported with supplemental information at the end of the report.

Some reports require an executive summary and/or list of contents. Even though these two sections come near the beginning of the report you won`t be able to do them until you have finished it, and have your structure and recommendations finalised. An executive summary is usually about 100 words long. It tells the readers what the report is about, and summarise the recommendations.

Reports generally involve presenting your investigation and analysis of information or an issue, recommending actions and making proposals. There are many different types of reports, including business, scientific and research reports, but the basic steps for writing them are the same.

Once you have your structure, write down the headings and start to fill these in with the information you have gathered so far. By now you should be able to draft the terms of reference, procedure and findings, and start to work out what will go in the report’s appendix.